Boxing Does Turnabout By Abandoning Home TV

Julio Cesar Chavez and Oscar De La Hoya won’t be coming to your living room soon.

In a throwback to fights of years past, promoters said Tuesday that the planned June 7 megafight between the two junior welterweight boxers will be televised closed circuit to arenas and theaters across the country instead of on pay-per-view television.

“We’re going back to the future,” promoter Bob Arum said. “Just like we did in the old days when boxing was at its most popular.”

The much-anticipated fight between De La Hoya, the 1992 Olympic gold medalist, and Chavez, one of boxing’s greatest champions ever, will be held outdoors at the 16,000-seat arena at Caesars Palace.

Like the Ali-Frazier fights of the 1970s, it will be shown in arenas and theaters, some of which will stage their own live undercards, Arum said.

Both fighters must get by tuneup fights on the same card Feb. 9 inside the smaller Caesars Palace.

At Galveston, Texas, former world heavyweight champion Larry Holmes continued his comeback with a fourth-round knockout of Curtis Shephard. Holmes (63-5-0) scored the 41st knockout of his career.